Pneumatic shock-absorber.



G. TARAGLIO.

PNEUMATICI SHOCK ABSORBER.

' Patelltd July 25, 1911 z SHBBTSSHBBT1- APPLICATION FILED FEES, 1910.

)WIEN-TOR. GIUPPE Tn Rael-w.

Attorng A G. TARAGLIO.

PNEUMATIG SHOCK ABSORBEPI.

APPLICATION FILED IBB.s,Ia1o.

Patented July 25, 1911.l

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GEUSEPPE TRAGLIG, OF ROME, ITALY.

IPNEUMATI SHOCK-A BSRBEE.

Speccation oi Letters ratent.

Patented July 25., lll.

Application tiled February 3, 1910. Serial No. 541,785.

To all whom 'it 'may concern:

I Be it known that l, GIUSEPPE TARAGLIO, a subject of the King of italy,residing in the city of Rome, in the Kingdom of italy, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in lpneumatic Shocl-Absorb'ers, of,

which the lfollowing is a speciiication.

in order to provide an eiiicient device for damping the shocks to whichthe Wheels of` vehicles are subjected on account of inequalities of theground it has been often proposed to employ a pneumatic brake, usuallycon sisting of a cylinder and a piston which, either compresses the airwithin the cylinder or compresses the air at one side ot the piston and,at the same time, produces rare faction of air at the other side of thepiston.` llevertheless. none of said systems has practically securedthat smoothness, in Working, Whichjustities the employment of thepneumatic shock absorber, as a substitute for the ordinary springs whichare recognized as insui'iicicnt for the purpose.

The present invent-ion has, for its object, a new form o f pneumaticshoci absorber by means of which an exceedingly smooth 'and anabsolutely reliable working ot the device is assured, the device beingarranged to control the resistance which the air opposes to any suddencompression by causing the ii-oyvJ from one chamber to another through-very small passages, and., in the preferred form, this is assured byarranging a succession of chambers in Which the pressure is graduallydiminished.

In the appended drawings illustrated the construction of a cylinderaccording to the present invention and also several manners ci fittingsame to vehicles of. dillerent character. l

`Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section ot the cylinder and of the pistonof the pneu matic shock absorber. F F2 shows the application of the sameto a bicycle. Fig. 3 shows the application to an automobile. Figs. l and5 show two different manners of applying the invention to heavily loadedcars.

The pneumatic shock absorber according tothe present invention consists(see Fig. 1) of a metallic cylinder, 1, having a piston, 2, therein andone of said` parts being connected, by means of intermediate links, Withaxle boxes or other supports for the Wheels in such a manner that thevertical movements of said Wheels, due to inequalities of the ground,cause displacement ofthe piston in the cylinder.

The cylinder 1* is closed at both ends, 3, et, and through one ofsaid/ends (that having the cap 3 provided With a stuffing box, 5) passesthe piston rod, G.

The piston (2) has small openings 8 in its bottom or end, and saidpiston also carries diaphragms, 9, 10, l1, which also have similar smallopenings Stherethrough. The number of diaphragms is varied according tothe degree of elasticity which is desired, and form, in the body of thepiston, a like number of chambers, 12, 13, 14, wherein the air expandspassing from one to the other through the holes 8. lt depends upon thekind of vehicle, Whether it Will be suiicient to have holes providedonly in the bottom 7 or the piston, or Whether one or a greater numberof diaphragms, 9, 10,` 11, may also be required in order to obtain thedegree of elasticity desired. The number of holes and their diameter mayalso vary in order to secure the desired intensity in the action of thedevice; as a rule each hole Will be so small as not to permit a toorapid passage of the air, since otherwise too much pneumatic power wouldbe lost in. absorbing the eiect of a strong shock. Under suchcircumstances, if the piston 2 is forced to travel in the cylinder 1,there results a compression, inthe air chambers (12, 13, 1l) inclosed inthe piston; that is to say, if, for example, it is assumed that thepiston (Fig. l) travels t ward the bottom 4 of the cylinder, the airinclosed in the space is compressed, and -tends to escape through thcholes 8 provided in the bottom T of the piston, such air attaining acertain speed which increases together with the pressure and is ininverse 'proportion to the number' and the total area of the holes inbottom 7. This movement of air tends to produce an increase in thepressure of the chamber 14 immediately adjacent comprised between thcbottom 7 and the first diaphragm 11. From this iii'st chamber, onaccount of the increase of pressure which has taken place, the airescapes through the holes provided in the diaphragm 11 and increases thepressure in the successive chamber 13 comprised between the lirst andthe second diaphragm l0, and through the holes of this second diaphragm,the air passes into another chamber and so on, until it reaches thespace 16 before the piston, tending to reestablish the equilibrium ofthe pressure which, in consequence of the compression occurred in thespace 15, had been diminished by a rarefaction.

The flow of the air through the holes of the successive diaphragmsproduces an elasvtic resistance to the backward stroke of the slow; if,on the contrary, the shock is strong,

the pressure rises considerably on account 'of the greater violence inthe displacement of the piston, while the speed ofthe air through theholes also increases, so that the required smooth and elastic yield ofthe piston is always secured.

The elastic reactions described will take place either in the chamber 15or in the chamber 16, according to the direction of movement of thepiston.

The cylinder 1 may be applied in such a manner that the movement of thepiston always corresponds to the movement ofy a wheel in jumping over anobstacle, and, for that purpose, the wheel instead of being directlymounted on the axle of the vehicle, may be carried, for instance, on aspindle at the end of a lever or of a system of levers interposed, forexample, as indicated in Fig. 2, which illustrates the invention asapplied to a bicycle; the hub 17 of the wheel 18 is carried 1n one arm19 of an angle lever, and to the other arm, 20, is fastened the spring,21, attached also to the fork 22,'the lower part of which' carries alsothe pivot 28 of the angle lever. The cylinder 1 is interposed between.the fork and the lever and the spring 21 is designed only for thepurpose of keeping the system balanced in the normal condition in whichthe piston is inactive.

Fig. 3 shows how the cylinder 1 of the pneumatic shock absorber iscarried in a manner similar to that of Fig. 2, but adapted 'for anautomobile and other vehicles, and the same reference numerals indicatecorresponding parts. The cylinder, 1, and the spring. 21, are- 'n thiscasemplaced hori- Zontally, and the pivot, 23, of the angle compressionof the air in' lever 26, carrying the ournal 27 of the wheel, isJfastened to the frame'of the vehicle.

The arrangement ofv Fig. 4 shows the wheel carried by a journal 27integral with a slide 24 which is guided in al conveniently-p shapedplate or cylinder 25 connected with the axle ot the vehicle. Said slide24, which carries the wheel, is connected, in its turn, to the ends ofone or more rectilinear or angular levers 28, pivoted at 23 and rigidlyconnected to the axle of the vehicle. To the respective ends of each ofsaid levers are fastened a spring 21 and the slide 24. The springs 21serve, in this case also, for restoring the equilibrium of the whole,as-soon as the obstacle has been overcome by carrying the pistons of thecylinders into their origi-V nal position of rest so that they arealways ready to act in the manner described, in order to absorb smoothlyand elastically the shocks produced bythe unevenness of the road. Incertain cases, a single cylinder may be arranged to operate inconnection with two levers 29 and with two pistons,.

with their rods extending from the covers at both ends of the cylinder,as shownv in Fig. 5; the action however, is always the same as that ofthe cylinder with a single piston above described, vwith the onlydifference that instead ol' ltwo separate chambers one common chamber isformed in the middle.

- Having thus described my invention, what I claim 1s:-.

In a pneumatic shock absorber for vehicles of any description; acylinder,'a hollow piston movable therein, a plurality ofpartitionsforming a succession of chambers in the interior of thepiston, holes through said partitions and the end walls oi` the pistonallowing the passage of the air from one chamber tothe other andestablishing a' communication between the spaces `at the front and rearof the piston through the' chambers in the interior of the piston, atleast one lever pivoted on a fixed pointof the .frame of the vehicle,suitable connections between one end of the lever and the axle of thevehicle, an elastic resistance at the other end of the lever in order toreturn same in the resting position after any displacement, and a pistonrod linked to the piston and the lever.

In witness thereof l have set hereunto my hand. this 8th day of January1910.

GIUSEPPE TARAGLIO.

lVitnesses:

Lnrrnmo LAoocnrTA, Auron ro LABoooE'r'rA.

